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The Half Life possible upcoming game codename “HLX” has been circulating in datamining communities for years. It has appeared in leaked source code, been referenced in developer CVs, and been followed by years of community obsession. What it has never been is spoken out loud by a Valve employee on camera at a public conference; at least not until now.
On October 21, during a GameSoundCon panel on how sound and music function within Valve’s Source 2 engine, Valve composer Mike Morasky was answering a question about the engine’s flexible sound system when he casually said: “And in fact, I think Deadlock has their own version of HDR. You know, HLX has its own version, so on and so forth.” The panel was recorded and posted to Vimeo, where the moment lands at around the 57:50 mark. Morasky is officially credited on only one Half-Life game, Half-Life: Alyx from 2020, which makes his reference to working on multiple Half-Life titles something he has apparently slipped up on at least twice before, all the more telling.
The reaction of the colleague sitting next to him made the incident immediately legendary. Valve sound designer David Feise, who was also on the panel, can be heard whispering “nice work” to Morasky right after the slip. Then, in a separate clip captured on a hot mic at the end of the presentation, Feise leans over to Morasky and says “good job, you only said HLX once,” to which Morasky replied “I did?” Neither man apparently realised the camera was still capturing audio. Valve reporter Tyler McVicker, one of the most reliable trackers of the company’s unannounced projects, was the first to spot the original clip and flag it publicly.
The broader context makes the slip feel less like a random accident and more like the inevitable result of a project that has been in development long enough to become muscle memory for those working on it. Dataminers have spent years mapping HLX’s apparent progress through Valve’s publicly available code. In 2025, McVicker reported that the game is playable from start to finish. The community has assembled a detailed board cataloguing everything known about the game, and HLX is openly discussed in Half-Life forums as if it were a publicly announced title. All of that suggests Morasky simply forgot it was still technically a secret. With the Game Awards in December, the obvious next window for a major Valve announcement, the community’s attention is now squarely pointed at that date.
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